Samuel JohnsonHarvard University Press, 1998 - 372 pages He was a servant to the public, a writer for hire. He was a hero, an author adding to the glory of his nation. But can a writer be both hack and hero? The career of Samuel Johnson, recounted here by Lawrence Lipking, proves that the two can be one. And it further proves, in its enduring interest for readers, that academic fashions today may be a bit hasty in pronouncing the "death of the author." |
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... hand , the writer acknowledges his own insignificance , which extends not only to lexicographical drudgery but also to the histo- ries and poems that had furnished his livelihood ; grubstreet is where he belongs . On the other hand ...
... hand , suggest- ing uncertainty not only about what happened ( in the eyes of the viewer ) but also about the motives of the assassin ( as if the hand it- self felt doubt ) . Cumulatively , the sequence loads the historical facts with ...
... hand , we have seen , he defines the lexicographer as harmless drudge , the lowest grub in the field where nearsighted writers ply their tedious trade . On the other hand , he knows that the task is heroic , pitting one scholar against ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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